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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #337996
Title: Scapoidus titanus performs a dual-meaning, sharpshooter-style EPG X wave in xylem and phloem: Could S. titanus be a potential vector of Xylella fastidiosa in European vineyards?

Author
item CHUCHE, JULIEN - University Of Bordeaux
item SAUVION, NICOLAS - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item Backus, Elaine
item THIERY, DENIS - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)

Submitted to: 3rd Hemipteran-Plant Interactions Symposium Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2017
Publication Date: 6/4/2017
Citation: Chuche, J., Sauvion, N., Backus, E.A., Thiery, D. 2017. Scapoidus titanus performs a dual-meaning, sharpshooter-style EPG X wave in xylem and phloem: Could S. titanus be a potential vector of Xylella fastidiosa in European vineyards?. 3rd Hemipteran-Plant Interactions Symposium Abstracts. p. 73.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In phytophagous hemipterans, salivary sheath-feeding species are described as xylem or phloem sap-ingesting specialists. Because these two food sources have different characteristics, two different feeding tactics are associated with this supposed specialization. Study of feeding behavior is crucial to elucidate transmission abilities of vectors. In a recently published DC-EPG study, results showed that the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus (subfamily Deltocephalinae) ingests significantly from both phloem and xylem. S. titanus is an invasive species originally from North America that is now common in French vineyards. Until now, this insect has been considered a phloem-feeder; however, this attribute was solely based on transmission of the Flavescence dorée phytoplasma. S. titanus EPG recordings revealed the first dual-meaning X wave, containing two different-appearing ingestion waveforms that were correlated with phloem and xylem ingestion, respectively. In addition, the S. titanus X wave resembled that of sharpshooter leafhoppers (subfamily Cicadellinae), which transmit Xylella fastidiosa ssp. fastidiosa, the xylem-inhabiting bacterium causing Pierce’s disease of grape. Recent research has shown that the sharpshooter X wave represents the essential feeding behaviors responsible for inoculation of X. fastidiosa into grape xylem cells. Although many hemipterans ingest from xylem, probably only those few species that perform a sharpshooter-style X wave can be X. fastidiosa vectors. Although X. fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa is not present in Europe, risk associated with introduction to European vineyards is increased if competent vectors are resident. To address this issue, evaluation of S. titanus as a vector should be addressed.